The One Who Never Gave Up
by dropthetoxicbass
Summary: Karkat Vantas, a high school student living in an abusive family. When meeting the new kid, Sollux Captor, decides it's time that he stops being a complete loner, and makes a friend. With a little more pressure, he comes open to him, becomes not such a downer, and finds someone to love.


"Wake up, Karkat! You will be late for school!"

Holy shit, why can't you just get some sleep for once? You have stayed up all night… and now your crappy insufferable fuck of a brother is shouting and pounding on the door. Having insomnia is a total piece of shit, but adding the fact that you are the most anti-social piece of shit on the bottom of someone's old gym sneakers makes it so much worse when you go to a school full of preps that find their religion to be one-upmanship. And apparently a way to one-up another is to make the defenseless 'peers' suffer a living hell. It sucks ass and they're just making themselves look like jackass'.

But aside from school… home life sucks as well. You should definitely get up so your face won't be pounded in by your alcoholic godfather, Slick. Thing is, it's not going to be much god damn better getting up. You have already hit the snooze button three times and he is probably pissed. Your brother awfully understands when it comes to knowing the pain of Slick's fist to your skin. So… you have an idea. You get up and look in the mirror.

There is another knock on the door. Your brother, Kankri's voice seems to soften up a bit now "Uhm, Karkat. Are you okay? May I come i-"  
>"Okay, okay. Shut up," you reply in your strained oddly feminine sounding voice. You pull the covers off of yourself and slide out of bed, looking in the mirror again. You run a hand through your deep brunette messy hair and stare into those unusual deep red eyes. Your mutant like eyes is the biggest reason that you are harassed at school.<br>"Karkat… I don't want you… I just don't want you getting in trouble for being late to school and getting in trouble by Slick…"

You blink and run a hand over your scarred, bare, and slightly toned chest. Awfully pale other than that. You grab a pair of black skinny jeans with holes in them and slip them on over your scarred as well skinny, pale-as-snow legs. You grab a black band shirt on slip it on with a black jacket with it since the shirt was slightly small. You go to your door right as Kankri was about to knock again and open it, ruffling your hair so it looks semi-decent. You give him a cold stare and sigh, expression easing up as you look down. "Yes, Kankri… I am awake now… I have been awake… And, yes. I know. Slick is going to kick my ass."

"Karkat..." The tone in his voice gets you to look up at him, question expressing on your face. "Karkat… you are a handsome young man and I won't be here much longer… I don't want you to get hurt. Please take care of yourself better."

You nod and sigh "I know. Thanks, I guess. Or whatever, anyway. But, Kankri, I don't want to deal with him this morning. Is he in his study?"

"Ye-"

"Good. Goddamn. Okay... Can you holler at him and let him know that you are leaving to school with me? And hurry about it… I'm going out the window to avoid him."

"But, my dear Karkat, we are on the second fl—"

"So what? I'm going out the window. Now... please do what I fucking said."

He gives a nod and a sympathetic smile. You stare back into his red eyes. Wow... you have a strange family. You shut the door and grab your backpack, securing it on your shoulders then go to the window, opening it. You'll… Yeah, you'll just leave it open. You crawl halfway out the window so you are sitting on the sill and look around, taking in your surroundings. You scope out your path and dive- rolling and landing on the neighbors roof despite their fucking opinions. Then from there, you scale down the support beam of their porch. They've gone to work and/or school by now, anyway… You peer over the bushes to your house. Thank god, Slick wasn't in sight. You roll from behind them and up to your feet, sprinting the next block or so until you reach the park. You pull out your inhaler and prep it, taking a puff from your lack of breath. You honestly shouldn't be running like that with your case of asthma- but you don't care. As long as you aren't caught- it isn't really a concern in your mind.

After a while more of speed-walking, you reach the school and your brother smiles fondly at you. But, you simply scowl and keep walking as if you have no clue who he is. Both of you are loners… he talks too much and obviously wears makeup. But that's just foundation to hide bruises and a bit of eyeliner so it looks a little more natural. He has the same eyes as you… so yeah, it's an issue for him as well. But, you'd rather be alone. You don't want to be crushed by who you thought was your 'best friend' again. And people… well, they tell the truth. And the truth hurts. You'd rather leave the truth telling to yourself. That's because you have yet to find someone to say something positive to or about you.

The bell rings and you hurry off to your first class. It's science. Okay... it's a decent subject. Not your favorite, though. You take your assigned seat and… Oh goody! Idiot of a teacher is changing seats again. You were perfectly fine where you were and yet he has to change seating arrangements every week. He's going to run out of seats by the end of the year. This time he's changing them apparently because there is a new student. The kid walks into the room as he pushes his thin frame glasses and holy crap he's a nerd. Okay… he's an attractive nerd. Thoughts start flowing through your mind and a soft pink raises to your pale cheeks so you look down as he pull up your hood, feet resting on the table as if there is a bright neon sign above your head signing 'NOT GIVING A—'

"Mr. Vantas!" you are taken from your thoughts as the teacher calls out to you. "We have a strict rule against hats here in Alternia High School!" He scowls at you and you nearly fall from your chair upon noticing that he had the dude sitting next to you. Freckles here snickers at your jump and another shade of pink rises. So you sit back in your seat normally and pull your hood off, putting your head down on the desk. The teacher continues to give a lecture then hands out an assignment as you drain out the noises.

Soon enough there is a prodding at your side and you jump slightly, face going red. You were very ticklish and that was unacceptable. You nearly turn and swing at the violator of your bubble and when you realize it's the new kid, you practically melt. You blink and your expression softens upon noticing his heterochromatic eyes. One of them was a brown with a shade of red and the other was a brilliant ice blue. You quickly hide your face on the desk again when a smirk plays to his lips at your reaction. He prods at your side again and you twitch a bit "Hey, kid. You need to get your face off of the desk or else it'll be glued there and then I'll have to pry it off so you can help me with this stupid assignment." Bingo- he has a lisp. It wasn't too heavy. But you couldn't bear to look up now. You honestly still don't want to risk befriending him or anyone else.

"Hey." His voice seemed to hold a bit of concern behind it "Are you okay or are you gonna die? Because I can drag you to the office, if you're gonna die." You grumble as you look up at him, adjusting your lip ring.

"Okay, fine you insufferable swine. I'll pay attention to you and your fucking nonsense now, beeboy," you added the name on as your thick, dark eyebrows drew together, noticing that his zip-up hoodie was striped and had a pair of bee-like wings on the back.

He gives a victorious smile "There we go. That's better. I can see your cute kitten-like face now."

You give him an evil look as your cheeks go pink again "Shut up. Now, not I don't give a fuck , but since we have to communicate- what's your name?"

"Sollux Captor," he immediately replies. "But don't pronounce it with the lisp. Or so help me—"

"Okay, okay," you raise your hands defensively and sigh through your nose. "Well, Captor. I wasn't paying any attention—what was it that we are doing?"

He sighs and tells you the assignment before you begin to work on it with him. You made a lot of mistakes and he helped and corrected you when you screwed up. Goddamn nerd..

After carrying on most the rest of your day, your last period is gym and as of the moment, you are running around the track with Captor following you and trying to question you. You remain silent though, not wanting to put up with anyone's shit. You just wanted to get out of school, despite not wanting to go home.

After getting back into your normal clothes, you throw on your backpack and race out the door as the bell rings, not wanting to deal with the beeboy.

The next day is similar. You get yelled at by Slick, you go to school with another bruise, and Captor interrogates you. You find out that he's such more of a nerd than you first expected. Not that you minded, anyway. He codes and hacks, working with computers over all with different games. Not only the games on the computer- he plays various different game stations, as well. God, he was annoying and wouldn't leave you alone. Was he like this with everyone?

By lunch, your question was answered. He was being interrogated by the biggest jerks in school. That and he was alone. He had been alone the entire time. Even though you weren't eating, you watched him. He didn't eat either. He huffed and began walking away, a new bruise on his cheek. You glare at it, noticing that the guys from earlier left it there. Right on his flawless skin and hiding his childish freckles. Why did he only bother you though…?

By gym, you were in grey sweat pants and a black t-shirt. The bruise was noticeable on your forearm. But, normally, people didn't care. So you didn't bother covering it up. But Captor was eyeing like a hawk. When it came to running- he was bothering you again.

"Karkat.." he must've gotten your name from roll-call. "That mark on your arm.. it isn't an accident. I know it isn't, it can't be. What is it from?"

You remain silent though, not wanting him to know about your home life. He huffs and looks back down as he runs. Eventually the bell rings again and you are out the door.

You come back to school and carry this on for a while- with him bothering you daily and trying to befriend you. After a few weeks, you go to school with another bruise on your face. He stops you in the hall this time. "God damn it, KK..." wow, he decided to give you a nickname. "Something is up and I am not putting up for it. Those bruises and marks are not healthy and I'm worrying about you. Tell. Me. I'm not letting you go anywhere this time."

"But.." you start, eyebrows drawn together and you realize that you sounded defenseless. So you huff and try to make your voice sound gruffer. "Listen up- I feel like utter shit and I'm going home and I'm not dealing with your sh—"

He cuts you off with a glare "I'm not letting you go home. There's something wrong there and I know for a fact that you will come back to school with another bruise and/or cut tomorrow." His words cause a knot to catch in your throat and you huff softly, remaining silent. "You're coming to my house. If you feel like crap- I can take you there and hopefully you'll feel better eventually." He takes your hand and goes to the bathroom with you, scaling out the window. About a block or so away, you make it to a yellow house and he takes you in the door. "No one is home right now. They won't be for a while. So you won't get caught skipping school here."

You blink "Why..?" The picking up of your voice gets an odd look of question from him "Why… why do you care? I don't know you for the love of fuck. But you keep bothering me… and you dare not even look at another fuckwit."

"KK... you're really an ungrateful swine, aren't you? Well… because you're alone and look like you need help. I was in your position at my last school. Other than the fact that I wasn't failing all my classes. I don't want you being a hobo so I'm helping you. Now accept it- I don't wanna thee you come to school practically dead. You already have enough marks and probably more on the parts of your body that I can't see."

You blink again. He was hella determined and you couldn't get him off your back. But… it was true. You sigh and look down "Fine..."

"Let me know your problems then... I can help you…"

You tell him about your past... though it wasn't a good one. Upon hearing about them, he bandaged up your torso from open wounds and did so with your forearms as well. He signed you up for online schooling, doing so for himself also and made you move in with him. You snuck in your window at one point- and thank god Slick wasn't in there. But, Kankri was. You told him what was happening and that he should move out. You grab most of your belongings and scurry back out the window, trying to not break anything.

It's been a few months and your scars are healed over. Sollux has taken you under his wing... and to his side. He's taken you out to the movies and dinner quite a few times. You actually ate for him despite normally starving yourself. You now smile more often and seem more joyful. You are at a passing grade now and it's summer. His parents are gone with his older brother and you two have the house to yourself. Next year is the last year… and you two are going back to school. You're able to work now. You're overall a different person. And you won't stand for anyone's crap anymore. You're satisfied for now... hopefully he won't leave you like your apparent 'best friend.'

It's great to have someone that cares. And now, Slick is in jail. Kankri apparently reported him and now your brother has the house to himself. You finally found someone to trust. Someone to call yours. Someone to share your laughs... and share your irritation or depression… all because you had it in the first place.

That someone is Sollux Captor and he shall forever be known for the one who never gave up. 


End file.
